AFRICAN nurses and their families who were forced by racist attacks to flee a housing estate in Co Antrim spent several weeks living in a disused hospital building, BBC Northern Ireland reported today.

The Spotlight programme said that the families had faced a number of racist attacks while living on the Ballycraigy estate in Antrim Town, leading them to seek shelter in a building tucked away in a corner of Whiteabbey Hospital in Newtownabbey.

The families have since found alternative accommodation.

During their stay on the estate, cars belonging to the nurses were smashed up and racist posters were taped to the windows of some properties, while other buildings had large black Xs spray-painted onto them.

One of the families told BBC News Northern Ireland: “Even when we were looking for accommodation, no-one told us that this was a no-go area.”

Spotlight said that many of the families were still too afraid to speak out about their experiences for fear of reprisals.

Branding the racist attacks “totally unacceptable,” Northern Health and Social Care Trust chief executive Jennifer Welsh told the BBC: “I want to send a strong message that our entire workforce has my support.”